I spent a few days in the Valley last week, big afternoon thunder & lightning storms, full falls, not too many people (until Friday evening), had a great time. Tioga Pass opened up Saturday morning & I was among the first to pass through. Very little snow was evident by the roadway. When I got to Olmsted Point I was very surprised by the lack of snow. I know they say it is the critical point on the road, and that this has been a low snow year, but there was no snow to be seen.
Very early Sunday morning I went up to Gaylor lakes, snow everywhere above 10,500’, with the lakes still frozen over. Just a beautiful day and then lunch in Lee Vining at Mono Cones.
Lastly, I took a little walk up the medial moraine in the valley. I came across at least a dozen trees with about a 2” cross section cut out of them, about 1/3 through the trunk. They were all Incense Cedar trees and most were on the Tenaya Creek side of the moraine, the cuts all on the uphill side of the trunk. The cuts appear to have been made a while back. Anyone know anything about this?
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/15/2013 11:31PM by Old Dave.